Holly Bower was a friend of mine who I recently learned passed away. She was a photographer as well and we met around 2007 while I was working in the digital imaging department of Best Buy. (I also met and sold a camera to Harry Anderson at that job, but that’s another story).
When I search for images of Holly Bower on the internet there isn’t a lot that comes up. This photo I took of her in 2009 may be the only photo I took of her. But this is how I remember Holly — in her downtown Asheville apartment, typewriter on the window sill, plants nearby, a lighter and telephone next to her on the table. Even the lens I took this photo with was hers. She had an older Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 that she let me borrow so I popped it on my Nikon digital camera. Honestly I think this is where my love of using a 24mm was born because I saw the potential after she lent it to me.
Holly survived polio when she was a child. She became the first female still-photographer in the motion picture industry. She was opinionated, passionate and driven. She was always good to call and check in on me and catch up. I regret I didn’t get to say goodbye to her. So this is a tribute to her.
You can read her obituary here.